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Monthly Archives: October 2013

The best quality roof coatings can give you benefits whether you own a home or a commercial building. They protect your facility and its people and contents, and will extend the performance life of your roof. A light-colored roof will also lower the cooling load of your building.

Roofing Must Be Properly Maintained

There is a potential for problems with any roofing, if it is not properly installed and maintained. Simply applying a coating will not give you the most benefits if your roof needs structural repairs before the application.

If your roof has a corroded or rotting deck, wet insulation or a brittle or fractured membrane, it is not a good candidate to be coated. Roof coatings can extend your roof’s service life, even if it is aging, but it is not a substitute for proper repair and maintenance of the underlying structure.

If your roof has existing problems, these must be addressed before you have coatings of any type applied, states Facilities Net. Replace or repair any problem areas before you have your roof coated. Roof coating will only extend the life of your roof if there is proper structure beneath them.

Roof Surface Is Important

Using elastomeric roof coatings is not going to extend your roof life if the surface is not properly prepared. Materials that are solvent-based are generally more tolerant than those that are water-based, when used over chalk, loose scale or debris. However, if your coating fails because of poor roof preparation, the roof will never be as structurally viable as it could be if repairs and maintenance are done before coating is applied.

Coatings Must Be Properly Applied

The roofing industry is evolving to maintain the pace of various roof material coatings chemistry. One important facet to maximizing every roof application is ensuring that the adhesion of the membrane to the roof is secure. If the coating is not properly adhering to the substrate, it will not extend the performance life of your roof.

Adhesion is the joining or bonding of two materials, so that they work correctly. The roof coatings used must interact correctly with the roof surface, says PaintSquare.com. The strength of this interaction is defined by these factors:
• The porosity and texture of the coating and its application techniques may all have an impact on surface interaction. The best roofs grab physically to the substrate. Air pockets must be eliminated, to enhance the contact.
• The surface contact area between the roof substrate and the coating will have an impact on the strength of the bond. The coatings should be properly spread over the surface of the roof in order to maximize the contact.
• Surface contaminants like debris or old repair paste can interfere with the proper contact between the coatings and the roof itself.

The chemistry between the roof substrate and the roof coatings is important for the strength of the adhesion that forms when the roof is cured. Manufacturers normally recommend specific types of coatings for a particular roof substrate, so that they will have maximum adhesion and will function together to increase the life of the roof.